Australian Development Gateway

The Australian Development Gateway (ADG) strives to support members of the development community in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. The site has been created with participation from members of government, private, academia and non-government organisations. User feedback mechanisms have been incorporated to guide future directions of the site. The site is optimised for low bandwidth access to enable the widest participation throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Skip to content

ADG channels:

Information by sector: Enterprise Development

Sub navigation

ADG TOOLBOX

Concepts and Approaches

Reimagining microfinance (pdf 5.8mb)

Grameen Foundation CEO Alex Counts outlines a new vision of microfinance as a platform, not a product; one that relies on high volumes, not high margins, and that uses limits on private benefit, holistic performance standards, and third-party certification.

Counts redefines the dichotomy between commercial microfinance and pro-poor microfinance to propose a new model that, he argues, could make microfinance both more relevant to the world's poor and more profitable in the long term.

He also provides an overview of and counter to some of the criticism levelled at microfinance institutions.

 

Footer: